we're living on cash in Portland, Oregon and paying down $70k by 12/31/2011

Tag Archives: Portlandia

We’re celebrating Ali’s birthday this weekend, and had a really fun time hanging out with friends at the bowling alley yesterday. Two hours of bowling for 10 people – $85. Not bad! The best part was inviting a special birthday buddy for Ali, a three year old who was experiencing bowling for the first time. Now that alone was worth the price of admission! We asked friends to bring some treats in lieu of gifts and ended up with a large booty – red velvet birthday cake, lemon and chocolate cupcakes, and the most delicious chocolate chip cookies. (Three cheers for people who know how to make delicious baked goods!) We also had a star sighting – Jenny Conlee (aka “Sparkle Pony” from Portlandia) who is apparently Kind of a Big Deal as a member of Portland-sourced The Decemberists (of course they have woodland creatures on their website!) was bowling a few lanes down with her husband and badass entourage. After bowling, we went across the street and tried valiantly to hit up happy hour, but a 45 minute wait at Hopworks Brewery pushed us out of that option into less budget friendly but still yummy territory. Overall, budgeting in the $100 price range for a birthday celebration with cupcakes, local indie rockers, and hoppy beer is not bad at all… with a nod to the fact that everyone paid for their own dinners!

In fact, while we are on the topic, this is a DOUBLE CELEBRATION WEEK! I’ve mentioned before, Ali and I were married on a day that doesn’t exist in most years… leap day! We decided early on that we would choose to celebrate yearly in a tiny way, but REALLY ROCK IT OUT every four years when out real anniversary date comes around — with a big [international?] trip of some sort. At the moment we are thinking about visiting Kenya or maybe Iceland for February 29, 2012 assuming we can slay this rhino before that time and pile up cash for international travel. Ali teased me that we’d have to take next year’s anniversary trip to the Oregon Coast and it made me sad (no offense to the coast, but… KENYA!).

This year we will celebrate modestly by doing our Bizarre Anniversary Portrait this afternoon, and perhaps eat a celebratory burrito on Tuesday. One of the things that charms me about Ali is that he has an innate ability to make the smallest things into adventures, so something as seemingly everyday as a trip to a food truck to grab a burrito turns into all kinds of awesome.

Celebrations are important, and I’m glad we have enough wiggle room in our budget to plan for spending time with friends for a bowling alley birthday party and taking an afternoon to stage a Bizarre Portrait.